AS Media Foundation Portfolio Block C : December 2015

Framing Shots

The angle that an image is taken at is very important because you will get a certain amount of lighting from a certain angle, sometimes the lighting will be good and sometimes it won't be, so the angle chosen has to have a suitable amount of lighting to make sure the image will look good. I will have images on my front cover, my contents page and my double page spread so I have to make sure that they are all similar in a way, so I will stick to my house style and they are all clear to see with a suitable amount of lighting.

Here are some examples of different angles that I could use when creating my magazine and also examples of what good lighting, bad lighting and a badly framed image is:

Medium Close Up

Here is an example of a medium close up, this angle usually consists of someones body shown from the chest upwards. This angle is often used so the audience are able to see the persons face and they are able to see some of the emotion the person in the image has, but the audience is also able to see what that person is like because they can see some of their clothes, so they may be able to get a sense of what that persons personality is like. This shot is also useful because it allow the audience to see some of the background so they will be able to understand where the person is and will see how it relates to the person. For example, if there was an image of someone and in the background there were bright colours, then the audience may think that person is happy and joyful. Whereas if there was a background with dark colours then the audience may think that person is sad. This can be convenient but sometimes a background can be distracting for the audience.

Close Up

A close up is often used to show the emotion on someones face and it allows the audience to understand how the person feels more because they are able to see more detail on their face. When close ups are taken they usually show the neck or shoulders as well so it doesn't look like there is a floating head which is known as 'Floating Head Syndrome'. This angle is very effective because it allows the audience to connect with the image. For example, if there was an image of someone crying then a close up would be used so the audience would be able to see the tears and would understand what is happening in the image. The only disadvantage to this angle is that the audience can't see the background or some of the persons body, so they only have their face to look at to understand what their personality is like.

Long Shot

Long shots are used to show the whole body, allowing the audience to see what clothes the person is wearing and from that they are able to get a sense of their personality and understand what they are like, the audience are also able to see the background, allowing them to understand the person in the image more. In these shots you can't see the persons face clearly so not much detail is shown, so this angle is never used if someone is wanting to show emotion and show how they feel. Long shots are often used when there are a lot of people in an image because it would be hard to fit a variety of people in one image if you only wanted to show their chest upwards, meaning a medium close up wouldn't be satisfactory. In a magazine you wouldn't usually see a long shot, but one of the times you may see one is when there is an image of someone at a concert and their whole body has been shown to demonstrate that they are performing live and are on stage.

Two Shot

Two shots are very useful when wanting to display relationships between people and showing how different people are diverse. Two shots can be seen in a variety of different ways, the people in the image could be stood/sat next to each other or one could be in the foreground and the other in the background, there are a variety of different ways two shots can be taken because sometimes it could show that one person is more important than the other. For example, if there was an image with someone in the foreground and someone in the background than it may represent that the person in the foreground is more important than the person in the background. Sometimes this angle can be used to express emotion and show how each of the individulas feel and the audience can often see that each person had a different personality because they may dress differently or the expressions on their face may be different.

Image With Bad Lighting

Lighting is very important when it comes to taking an image because if bad lighting is used then it would be hard to see the person in the image and also the lighting would change the setting of the image and also the mood. For example, the image may have planned to look bright and happy but because bad lighting had been used the image may look gloomy and depressing. Furthermore, in many images that have bad lighting you will be able to see that there is always a really bright glare which would be very unappealing to an audience, so they wouldn't want to look at the image meaning the person in the image may not get advertised as much because a bad image of them has been used. In some images there could be a shadow behind the person and this would be an example of bad lighting because the audience would only want to see the person and not their shadow, so when taking photos the person should either go to a position where you can no longer see their shadow of extra lighting should be used.

Image With Good Lighting

Good lighting is very important because when bad lighting is used it is hard to see the persons face and their emotions but when good lighting is used you can see the persons face clearly and the audience is able to understand the person in the image. An image with good lighting is often one where there is no shadow in the background of the image (unless the shadow is intentional) and also the lighting coming from all directions should be about the same to make sure that one side of the person doesn't have more light than the other side of the person. In images good lighting is often achieved by using different sources of light coming from different directions to even out how much light is coming from all of the different directions.

Badly Framed Image

Badly framed images are useless because they are not the type of image that should be used in a magazine or anywhere that is trying to advertise something. This is a bad angle to use because it means the audience will have to tilt their heads when looking at the image which they shouldn't have to do. Plus, sometimes parts of the persons body could be cut off from the image meaning the audience won't get to see all of the persons features. Moreover, when images are badly framed there could be things in the image that weren't meant to be in it. For example, there may have only meant to be the top half of a person in an image but because the image is tilted the persons legs and the ground is in the image because it has been framed badly.

As I am creating a music magazine I will want to have images in my magazine that are from concerts/gigs to show the reader what some concerts are like and also in some magazines the audience will be able to see photos of their favourite bands that they have never seen before.

Here are some images from concerts that I have taken myself, I will show both good and bad images that could be used and I will explain why they could and couldn't be used:

In this video I can see the photos I have taken are good because they are all of a good quality and they would be very beneficial to use in a magazine. Some of the reasons these images are good to use is because all of them are clear so you are able to see the people in the image distinctly, the person in each image is facing the camera or looking at the camera so it is engaging to the audience as they would feel involved. Furthermore, the images are close up so you can only see one or two band members in the image which would be good to put in a magazine because the reader would be able to see the detail of the band member instead of having to see other people (like fans) in the image. Another reason these images are good is because good lighting has been used which means the audience is able to see the person in the image clearly. Lastly, different angles have been used in the images so the reader will be able to understand the person in the image more. For example, if a low angle was used then it would make the band member look more important because their fans are below them and have to look up to them to be able to see them. All of the good images I have shown could be used in my magazine because they are all very clear and close up so would be appealing to the reader.

This video also shows some bad images which would likely not be used. The images I have shown wouldn't be used in a magazine because in some images the band members are quite far away and it is hard to see the the band, in some you can see the band members but they are very small and you can't see any detail on their faces because they are so far away. Another reason these images are bad is because they are quite blurry which means you are unable to see the people in the image clearly, so people won't be able to see the detail on their faces and won't like looking at the images as much as they would if they weren't blurry. Moreover, in some of these images the band members are facing the wrong way so you are unable to see their faces, meaning there wouldn't be much to look at for the reader because they can't look at their face to see their emotion and how they may play at a concert. Another big problem that sometimes ruins an image is the lighting, some of these images are bad and shouldn't be used because there are bright lights that have got in the way which cause a glare and means the reader is unable to see the band members face and again can't see any expressions. None of these images I have shown would be used in a magazine because they aren't clear and some of them don't show enough detail which is a disadvantage because this often entices the reader.